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The ending of HBOs miniseriesThe Plot Against Americais quite different from the endingPhilip Rothcreated in his novel.
In David Simons adaptation, the ending is more purposeful and more ambiguous.
But Simon was not comfortable with giving his adaptation the same clean, restorative conclusion Roth ended with.
Its the only reason to spend the money to film this, he said.
Before Philip Roths death, you spoke with him about changing the ending of his novel.
Where do you end it?
What Roth chose to do was have Lindberghs plane taking off from Lexington and disappearing.
Then he disappears at one point during his campaign barnstorming.
Roth was layering in a certain wariness of early aviation into the novel.
Youre willing to accept it.
He went to that portion of the book, reread that page and a half two or three times.
The TV hack and the great man of literature.
Hes rereading his work and hes frowning and Im waiting.
I took that as permission to at least take a stab at do something.
Theres a little part of me that went, Okay, Im spared that.
I think he wouldve been okay with most of it, maybe.
You know, its basicallyJulius Caesar.
People had the same choice as Cassius and Brutus, and some of them take that choice.
We felt that it was an interesting thing to examine.
Some peopledorebel, and what is the legitimacy of that?
Its what makes Shakespeares play work.
And by the way, it can also make a vile political act seem legitimate.
The dial turns a very bright orange.
The verdict on Roosevelt and Lindbergh and isolationism and America First historys already had that verdict.
I dont need to argue 1940 anymore.
We need to comment.
We need to speak very bluntly to what this election means.
So we ended without feeling the need to say, …and then America was restored.
Youve mentioned that this show is very close to your own family history.
I did it for the obvious political import.
I didnt have to research the tone.
But weve watched it with Georgia Ray, yeah.
Shes needed some stuff explained.
But shes captured a lot of it, and shes very engaged with the Levin family.
The ambiguity of the ending feels like a heavy thing to watch with your own 9-year-old.
What was that like?I dunno.
I think shes got the capacity to see something a little bit darker now.
We were struggling with it.
If you opened his copy of the Haggadah, he would have it written in.
And he said it: Freedom can never be completely won, but it can be lost.
Then he would explain that, and in the explanation, I came to understand citizenship.
What he would say is, self-governance is really hard.
Its never perfect, its never perfected.
Theres always someone whos not being delivered the same promise of freedom as everyone else.
There are some freedoms that get betrayed and have to be rescued.
The work is never done.
Every day, youve gotta get up and kill snakes.
It can often seem impossible.
But whats certain is that if you dont do the work, youll lose it.
Were at that point, where Im looking around and saying, How many citizens do we actually have?
Citizens not just with rights, but with responsibilities.
That, to me, is what the last 45 seconds are asking.
But nonetheless, its the only task that matters.
Ed Burns and I are storytellers.
Roth was a storyteller.
Im glad we said our piece because nows the time to speak up.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
